Uproar Over 'Fahrenheit 9/11' Heats Up
http://ia.imdb.com/media/imdb/01/I/38/39/12s.jpg Controversy is again swirling around provocative documentary filmmaker Michael Moore (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0601619/) (Roger and Me (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098213/), Bowling for Columbine (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0310793/)) following Miramax's announcement on Wednesday that it will not be distributing Moore's latest film, Fahrenheit 9/11 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361596/). Earlier, the Walt Disney Co. said that it would prevent Miramax, which it owns, from releasing it, even though Miramax had financed it. Zenia Mucha, a spokeswoman for the company (herself a former adviser to New York Republican politicos George Pataki (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1071417/) and Alfonse D'Amato (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0195051/)), said that "it was not appropriate for Disney ... to be the distributor of a politically charged movie in an election year." Critics immediately pointed out that some of Disney's ABC radio stations present a daily barrage of politically charged programming, generally reflecting conservative opinion. "All I can say is, thank God for [Miramax Co-chairman] Harvey Weinstein (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005544/), who stood by me during the entire production of this movie," Moore said in a statement posted on his website on Wednesday. The film is due to compete at the Cannes Film Festival next week for the festival's Palme d'Or award. Michael Barker, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics, which released the controversial Oscar-winning The Fog of War (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317910/), told today's (Thursday) San Francisco Chronicle that he expects to see Moore's picture at Cannes and that he might be interested in distributing it "if Miramax pitches it to us and it's anything like The Fog of War." Likewise a Lions Gate spokesman told the Toronto Star that his company would also consider releasing the film, adding: "We tend not to be frightened off the controversial projects." Ironically, the title of Moore's film derives from the 1953 Ray Bradbury (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001969/) sci-fi novel Fahrenheit 451 about a society that burns controversial books, forcing a group of dissidents to memorize the classics in order to preserve them. The ads for Fahrenheit 9/11 bear the tagline: "The Temperature Where Freedom Burns."

spartanfan

May 7th, 2004, 05:44 PM

Lets all boycott Disney. What a crock of shit. Whats with all the censorship going on lately.

Wigglytuff

May 7th, 2004, 07:31 PM

I am glad to see that someone is picking up the film. i will most certainly pay 9.50 to go see it if it ever makes it to theathers.